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BBC Trust Names First Female Chair

The BBC Trust, the body that has control over the entire BBC and associated bodies, has appointed Rona Fairhead as its first female chair. Rona Fairhead, a former publishing executive from the Financial Times Group, has been chosen after a lengthy process to head the enormous and influential international broadcaster. Rona Fairhead had to be questioned by the Culture, Media, and Sport Select Committee and her position had to be signed off on by the Queen, but she was Culture Secretary Sajid Javid and the British Government’s first choice, and is expected to take over quite soon. Chris Patten resigned after criticism over the handling of an internal sexual abuse reporting scandal and after personal health problems in May, and the post has been vacant of a permanent replacement since then.

The BBC, which has a long history of producing quality journalism, entertainment, and everything in between, has of course continued operations without pause while between top bosses. This is more of a CEO change than anything else, although as a government owned and operated business with a government-produced presence throughout Great Britain and the Commonwealth, calling the BBC a corporation is more of a misnomer and an accident of history than anything else. The BBC will continue to run no matter what profit margin it does or does not make (it is actually one of the best examples of a successful government-run business in the entire world, with extremely high quality productions and a trusted name in news and entertainment; a direct tax in the UK does not hurt its revenues either). In any event though, this powerful company has a reputation, as many British institutions, as an old boy’s club, where connections and gender play an important part of how far you can get. People like Rona Fairhead breaking the glass ceilings of Britain will do nothing but benefit the populace as a whole, allowing more meritocratic hires throughout the business and enhancing the end product.